Welcome Citizen Scientists!
You're invited to help track hummingbird migration each fall and spring as these tiny migrants travel to and from their wintering grounds:
Fall Migration
Report to the map when you see a hummingbird of any species. The map will show when and where hummingbirds were present. Watch how the map changes as hummingbirds respond to the changing seasons. Explore questions
like these:
- Why do hummingbirds risk a dangerous long-distance migration?
- Where do they go? How fast and how far can they fly?
- What do they need
to survive and how can we help them?
Marathon Migrations
Hummingbirds are so light that you could mail ten with just one stamp! Yet they manage to fly hundreds
— or even thousands — of miles fueled by the nectar
from blooming flowers. Before migration, hummingbirds feed heavily and often. They more than double their weight, gaining fat to power the journey. Males leave first, as early as mid-July. Not much is known about the actual fall migration route or time on the wintering grounds. Observations from citizen scientists can provide valuable information!
Help Your Hummingbirds
These feisty flyers will appreciate your food and flowers to send them off in autumn. Leave your hummingbird feeders up into mid-October, or at least two weeks after you see the last hummingbird. Beginning in late February, atch the spring migration maps to know when to hang your feeder again.
